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BIG PHYSICS, BIG QUESTIONS –

French go for gas

The French electricity board EDF is close to completing a feasibility
study on the conversion of old nuclear power stations to run on combined
cycle gas turbines. If such a conversion goes ahead it will be the first
time that a decommissioned nuclear power station is converted and reopened
anywhere in the world.

The study signals a major change in policy. For nearly two decades France
has worked towards an all-nuclear strategy. EDF is now seeking to diversify
its electricity sources, both for economic reasons and to prepare for changing
patterns of supply and demand.

France’s growing exports of electricity are fast taking up the extra
generating capacity of French power stations. Within three years, EDF forecasts,
all surplus power will have been absorbed and it will have to provide more
power to meet domestic demand at peak times. Gas turbines are better able
to produce power on demand than nuclear power stations.

EDF is examining the prospects for converting its graphite-moderated
reactors to gas turbines. The electrical plant of these nuclear reactors
has a longer lifespan than the reactor itself. One graphite-moderated reactor,
at Chinon, has already been closed down and another two are due to be decommissioned
by 1995. One of these, Saint-Laurent-des-Eaux, is conveniently located near
a natural-gas storage site.

A successful conversion of graphite-moderated reactors could encourage
more conversions in 15 years’ time, when a large number of French nuclear
power stations will reach the end of their lifespan.